The Bordeaux National Ballet needs your support… please sign the petition

Italy has just lost another ballet company, that of Verona, which had been whittled down to twenty members over the last few years. A couple of decades ago, when Carla Fracci headed the company, it presented the classical repertory.

Now a similar fate is looming over the heads of the dancers of the excellent Bordeaux National Ballet, who are taking the matter into their own hands and trying to change the winds of destiny.

If you would like to help their very worthy cause, follow this link to change.org where you can quickly sign the petition.

Dear Audience, Artists and everyone concerned,

At a time when the Ballet Director has been suspended of his function, at a time when the ‘National' title that defines the quantity of dancers that is necessary for a National Ballet company to insure the Classical Repertoire is renegotiated. The Bordeaux National Ballet needs your support.

This petition aimed to alert about the troubling situation of the permanent Artists of the Ballet of the National Opera of Bordeaux, France.

Today they are the victims of radical decisions taken by their General Management and elected representatives of the City:

– Lowering subsidies

– Reduction of the workforce of Permanent Artists

These choices clearly jeopardize the classical repertoire of our ballet.

Indeed, this would mark the end of the big classical productions of this great institution; Bordeaux is one of the few still alive in France, from which it earned its notoriety.

Could you imagine Odette floating alone in her “Swan Lake” …?

This would amount to offering a diminished and mutilated repertoire to the spectator, who would still always have pay the same price for their ticket. 

The Ballet de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux offers a wide repertoire ranging from classical ballets to the most contemporary. This decision would bring a considerable blow to classical ballet already very thin in France and would further jeopardise the status of the Artists.

Choreographic diversity is necessary for our country and our culture. 

Please do not deprive us of this wealth!

Moreover, this is also for the next generations of dancers emerging from the world renowned schools and conservatoires, which will be threatened and deprived of jobs at the end of their extremely difficult vocation.

Louis XIV was at the origin of what is today the art of ballet, the french opera houses and their companies are looked at and taken as examples throughout the world.

Let us be reminded the Grand Theatre de Bordeaux is among the very first in a remarkable architectural environment.

BY SIGNING AND SHARING THIS PETITION, YOU SUPPORT THESE ARTISTS, THEIR BUSINESS, DANCE AND ART, WHOM MUST CONTINUE TO SHINE, EDUCATE, AND MAKE YOU DREAM.

As long as we talk about them, the Ballet de l'Opera National de Bordeaux and classical dance will continue to live on.

Thank you.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.